Puppy Raising
Perhaps the most rewarding and challenging volunteer opportunity at Deafinitely Dogs! is becoming a puppy raiser. A Deafinitely Dogs! puppy has a very important future! These puppies grow up and become somebody’s everything – someone’s service dog.
Goals For Puppy Raisers
Our puppy raisers work with dogs from approximately 8 weeks to 18 months of age and will likely have the puppy for roughly 4-12 months. The goal of our puppy raisers is to establish a foundation of socialization, experiences, and obedience training. They accomplish this goal by:
- Helping puppies experience a variety of situations
- Devoting daily time to properly caring for, feeding, grooming, socializing, and walking/exercising your puppy
- Attending scheduled obedience classes
Responsibilities
Our Deafinitely Dogs! puppy raisers have a variety of personal and financial responsibilities:
- Provide food and other supplies as needed
- Provide preventive, emergency, and incidental veterinary care, including spay/neuter if requested
- Attend obedience classes. Most are provided by Deafinitely Dogs! unless unavailable or not logistically possible, alternative class must be approved by Deafinitely Dogs!
- Ongoing socialization, including daily exposure to a variety of environments and experience
- Provide transportation to obedience classes, vet appointments, events, Deafinitely Dogs!, and other locations as needed
Applicant Requirements
To ensure the long-term success of our program, Deafinitely Dogs! has established a list of requirements for our puppy raisers:
- Limit of one other adult (1+ year old) dog in the home
- Must be able to safely house a puppy in their home
- Must be able to devote daily time to the puppy
- Must love puppies! These puppies require a home that provides them with lots of care and love
- Ability to keep the end goal in mind – these puppies are waiting to find their person/partner and will one day leave your home